KKR, CVC prepare joint bid for Kuwait’s Americana

SimonClark

DanDunkley

LONDON-- KKR & Co. and CVC Capital Partners are working on a joint bid for Americana Group, a Kuwaiti company that operates fast food franchises including TGI Friday’s Inc., KFC and Pizza Hut in the Middle East and North Africa, according to people familiar with the situation.

Americana, also known as Kuwait Food Co., has a market value of more than $4 billion, so a leveraged buyout of the company may rank as one of the largest ever in the Middle East.

Private equity firms such as New York-based KKR
KKR, +0.75%
and CVC, based in London, have been known to team up to work on large and complex acquisitions. The two worked together in 2007 on an unsuccessful 11 billion pounds ($18.52 billion) bid for U.K. supermarket chain J Sainsbury
SBRY, -1.76%
.

Americana wasn’t available for comment when contacted by The Wall Street Journal.

The group last year reported sales of $3.1 billion. The company was founded in 1964 and is controlled by the Al-Kharafi family. It trades on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. Americana operates in 13 countries and has 63,000 employees, according to its website. Its brands also include Costa Coffee, Krispy Kreme, Hardee’s and Quick Service outlets, and food brands including the California Garden and Farm Frites.

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